UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
January 20, 2014
Authored by: Sue Husted
Quality Matters Institutional Representative

The University of Indianapolis is a private, comprehensive and diverse institution of higher education located on nearly 50 acres just minutes from downtown Indianapolis. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, UIndy is distinguished by highly respected undergraduate programs in teacher education, communications and the health sciences, nationally ranked graduate programs, and Centers of Excellence focusing on aging studies and education reform. Personal attention, small, interactive classes, and flexible programming are the rule rather than the exception.
 5,400 students on the main campus in Indianapolis, including approximately 1,200 graduate students
 Average class size of 19 and student-to-faculty ratio of 13-to-1
 More than 80 undergraduate degree programs, 27 master's degree programs and five doctoral programs
 Largest programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, business, education and communication
The University's mission is to prepare its graduates for effective, responsible, and articulate membership in the complex societies in which they live and serve, and for excellence and leadership in their personal and professional lives. The University equips its students to become more capable in thought, judgment, communication, and action; to enhance their imaginations and creative talents; to gain a deeper understanding of the teachings of the Christian faith and an appreciation and respect for other religions; to cultivate rationality and tolerance for ambiguity; and to use their intellect in the process of discovery and synthesis of knowledge.
Online Learning has been identified as one of the proposed initiatives for years 1-3 in UIndy’s Strategic Plan titled
“Vision 2030.” UIndy recognizes that online education is growing, and has been mindful of the need to stay competitive in this area. We offer online and hybrid (a combination of online and onsite) courses in the School for
Adult Learning, and online and hybrid degree programs in Gerontology, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and
Occupational Therapy. We also offer a few basic undergraduate courses online, primarily for students who need to improve their grades over the summer; however, we are expanding those offerings to be more generally available.
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UIndy is committed to implement the Quality Matters standards for the design of online and/ hybrid courses, and we will begin to systematically build and evaluate our courses based on these rigorous, research-supported standards.
The Quality Matters standards assure that the online components of these courses promote learner engagement and provide students with all the tools and information they need to be successful learners. UIndy will work to incorporate Quality Matters into all phases of its course design processes and to develop the capacity to conduct unofficial and official course reviews.

Director of Online Academic Support and QM Institutional Representative Sue Husted will lead the Quality Matters
Implementation plan. Sue Husted is a member of UIndy’s Faculty Learning Development Studio (FLDS) and reports to the Dean for the School of Adult Learning, Dr. Judith G. Apple-VanAlstine.
As with any new University initiative, faculty and administrative engagement in Quality Matters implementation will be essential to its success.
UIndy has begun the engagement process by obtaining the necessary training and certifications for the Institutional
Representative (IR). As of December 2013, The IR will has completed QM’s Peer Review Course (PRC),
Institutional Representative Training, Online Facilitator Certification (OFC) and Face to Face Facilitator Certification
(FFC). These trainings have provided the IR with the necessary tools to implement and maintain Quality Matters programming on campus and to conduct initial faculty trainings.
In conjunction with the Faculty Learning Design Studio the Institutional Representative (IR) will develop and offer administrator-oriented and faculty-oriented QM overview presentations using materials furnished by Quality
Matters. The overview will include information about the Quality Matters (QM) program, the QM Rubric, the QM peer review process, and how all the pieces come together in an effective QM implementation.
The Institutional Representative will work in conjunction with UIndy administration and create an advisory board consisting of administration, faculty, and relevant staff to develop operational support and draft administrative procedures for Quality Matters implementation.
UIndy’s Faculty Learning Design Studio hosts faculty development opportunities throughout the year; these sessions focus on course design, teaching and learning theory, and best practices in using our course management system.
UIndy recognizes that in order to become self-sufficient in our QM implementation and to, eventually, be able to conduct Subscriber-Managed Course Reviews, UIndy must identify faculty and staff from across the institution who can serve in roles (such as QM Certified Peer Reviewer, and Master Reviewers) and train them.
The IR is certified to facilitate both the face-to-face and online workshops in Applying the Quality Matters Rubric
Workshops (APQMR). Conducting these trainings in house will provide a cost savings to the university. Faculty, who successfully complete the APQMR trainings, will be invited to participate in QM’s Peer Review Course. These courses will be funded by the FLDS.
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Year Applying the Quality
Matters Rubric
(APQMR)
Peer Review
Course (PRC)
Master Reviewer
Training (MRC)
2014
2015
2016
10
30
100
5
15
50
0
1
10
To sustain Quality Matters impact on course development, the FLDS will sponsor a Faculty Learning Community and pay members a stipend for participation.
A Faculty Learning Community is a cross-disciplinary group of 6 – 10 faculty who engage in an active, collaborative, and self-guided exploration of a teaching and learning issue. QM FLC participants immerse themselves in a prolonged exploration of Quality Matters as “expert” learners in an attempt to (1) better understand teaching and learning online, (2) make modifications to their teaching practice based on what they have learned and (3) promote better teaching and learning across the institution by sharing what they have learned with a wider audience.
Throughout the implementation process UIndy will use the QM Rubric for:
Professional Development: Faculty attending course development workshops will be given a copy of the QM rubric and provided with guidance, strategies and tools to address the 8 QM standards as they develop their online and hybrid courses.
Distance Learning Policy Development: Because the QM standards address such topics as technical support provisions, ADA standards for accessibility, student conduct, etiquette, etc., they can become a basis for dialogue in forming distance learning policy.
Guidelines for Course Development: UIndy’s instructional designer uses the rubric as a standard for course development.
Unofficial, Internal and External Course Reviews: courses submitted for review will use the QM Rubric as the quality standard.
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Presently there are no guidelines as to the selection of courses for the full, course review process. As there are costs associated with both QM-Managed and Subscriber-Managed reviews, policies will need to be put in place to dictate which courses will undergo review for QM certification by the QM Advisory Board.
UIndy plans to conduct the following types of course reviews:
Internal Course Reviews will be used primarily as a faculty development tool to explore the peer review process and to provide immediate feedback to faculty who are developing courses. Unofficial course reviews managed by
UIndy are not recognized by Quality Matters. Internal course reviews will be voluntary. There are no costs associated with this review process.

QM-Managed Course Reviews – Until internal capacity is built, courses requiring QM certification will be submitted to QM for review. These are course reviews that are managed by Quality Matters (QM) staff and/or designees and are in compliance with the QM Course Review Standards. Courses meeting expectations after undergoing this type of review will be recognized by Quality Matters. Courses selected for review will be determined by the Institutional Representative. QM charges $1000.00 per course review.
Subscriber-Managed Course Reviews – After building capacity to host our own, official course reviews, UIndy, using QM online tools, will manage our own course reviews in accordance with the official QM Course Review
Standards. After undergoing a subscriber-managed review, courses meeting review standards will be recognized by
Quality Matters upon receipt of required documentation provided by the Institutional Representative. Subscriber-
Managed reviews are dictated by the institution. A subscriber-managed course review must meet the following criteria:
 The Institutional Representative assembles the 3 person team.
 All reviewers are eligible QM Peer Reviewers
 At least one reviewer is external to the institution submitting the course

At least one reviewer designated as a subject matter expert
 Team chair is a QM Master Reviewer
Typical stipends are $250 for the master reviewer and $150 for peer reviewers. Total cost $550 per course.
Year
2014
2015
2016
Internal Reviews
5
30
60
QM Managed
Reviews
1
5**
0
** Budgetary considerations may impact the actual number of course reviews.
Subscriber Managed
Reviews
0
1
10**
Upon QM recognition of our Plan at the Institutional-Level, this is the statement will be used for publicity purposes:
The University is committed to implementing the Quality Matters standards for the design of online and hybrid courses, and is systematically building and evaluating its courses based on these rigorous, research-based standards. The Quality
Matters standards ensure that the online components of these courses promote learner engagement and provide students with the tools and information they require to be successful learners. Further information regarding Quality Matters may be found at www.qualitymatters.org.
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